


ylissean marriage

by WattStalf



Series: FE Rare Pair Week 2017 [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/F, F/M, FE Rare Pair Week, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Sedoretu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-27 18:38:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10038827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: Chrom's first potential marriage falls apart, but his second does not.





	

**Author's Note:**

> It's a sedoretu AU for the prompt of Blessed.  
> Relationships are:  
> Chrom and Frederick are romantic, Maribelle and Lissa are romantic, Chrom and Maribelle are romantic, Frederick and Lissa are romantic, Chrom and Lissa are platonic, Frederick and Maribelle are platonic  
> If the original had worked out, Chrom and Emmeryn would have been platonic, and Frederick and Phila, while Frederick and Emmeryn would have been romantic and Chrom and Phila. Emmeryn and Phila were romantic.

It’s been tradition for some time, for the royal house of Ylisse to have two of their children in the royal marriage. Always, they strive to have at least one boy and one girl to ensure that this marriage takes place, because it is believed that a marriage like this is truly blessed. The oldest sibling, the one meant to bear the title of Exalt, is prioritized in terms of finding matches, and that is no different in Emmeryn’s case.

Except she’s left alone before anything is finalized, and forced to ascend, unmarried. However, Chrom, her younger brother, knows that the two of them will be joined in a marriage one day, and he takes it on himself to look for the other two.

Their family is a family of Mornings, and Frederick, a knight sworn to protect him and one of his closest friends, happens to be an Evening. To Chrom, it makes perfect sense, especially as the two grow closer, and Frederick says that he would be honored to serve the royal family in any way.

“I’m just not sure that I’d be worthy of such a marriage,” he says.

“Don’t be silly,” replies Chrom. “You’re going to fit in perfectly.”

Chrom thinks Phila is beautiful, and he admires her strength and her dedication to his sister. And he isn’t the only way who notices the way Emmeryn lights up when she enters the room, or the time the two of them spend alone together. Frederick has always known that, should he marry into the family, it’ll be Emmeryn that he’ll be taking up with in addition to Chrom, and he’s already trained himself to love her, but Chrom begins to genuinely fall for Phila.

However, he isn’t quite sure how he’s supposed to bring this up to her, or his older sister. Lissa teases him for it sometimes, and Frederick as well, but she understands just as well as they do that Emmeryn has a lot to deal with, and that worrying about marriage on top of all of that is not a priority. And, though she’d never admit it to anyway, Chrom wonders if she might not be a little jealous. Even when she finds matches of her own, she’s going to feel left out of things, he’s sure, but she never says anything, and continues to root for them.

When war seems imminent, there’s nothing further from their minds than marriage, and Chrom can put everything to the back of his mind, even his feelings for Phila, even his feelings for Frederick. The only thing he cannot forget is his love for her sister, and his desire to protect her, because he knows that protect her is the same as protecting all of Ylisse.

When he watches Phila die, when he realizes in one short, cold moment, that she’s gone- the woman his sister loves, the woman he loves and never told is gone, he feels his heart shatter, but then...but then…

But then he finds himself inheriting his sister’s title as he watches her fall to his death, and there’s nothing he can do to protect her now.

The war is won after that, but Chrom still feels hollow, and with only Frederick at his side, he is lost, unsure of what he’s supposed to do now. Their marriage fell apart before it even began, and his family fell apart, and his nation lost their symbol of peace, their symbol of hope.

However, it is not only Frederick at his side, he soon realizes. Lissa clings to them in her grief, and always at her side is Maribelle, her dearest friend who refuses to turn away when Lissa is crying. At the time, Chrom doesn’t realize that he’s never considering the fact that Lissa’s friend is an Evening woman, or that there might be something more between them.

It isn’t until later, when he finds himself alone with Maribelle more often, that he begins to think about that- and begins to notice other things about her at the same time. He doesn’t want to fall in love with her out of obligation, out of the belief that, since Emmeryn is gone, he has to replace her with Lissa, or force Lissa or Maribelle into this because of any sort of tradition. A grieving family, struggling to rebuild what they’ve lost, should be allowed to ignore tradition sometimes.

But he asks her one day, “Do you love my sister?”

She flushes and replies, “What kind of question is that, milord?”

“I’m only curious.”

“But I’m sure it should be obvious by now.”

“Yes, I suppose it is,” he says with a smile. “And...have the two of you considered any others?”

“You really are dense, aren’t you?” she asks. “She’s only had her eye on that knight of yours for years. I’d always hoped she’d get over that little crush, especially given the fact that it seemed...hopeless, in the past.” There’s a brief moment of quiet, as the two of them think about the meaning of her words. “But it seems, even now, that she doesn’t want to give up on him.”

“The engagement was never official,” says Chrom.

“What do you mean?”

“Lissa should know that. Didn’t she tell you? It was never official. People assumed, but Emm...she always said we had time to worry about that later. There was never anything between her or Frederick, though he was always ready for there to be. For my sake, or for her sake...for the whole family’s sake. And I…”

“You cared for Phila,” Maribelle replies. “I’m sorry that you never…”

“Sometimes I think she only had eyes for my sister, though I can’t say I blame her. Still, she never...well, she never seemed to look at me like that. That’s not to say I don’t miss her, that I don’t regret not being able to save her, or Emm.”

“Would you encourage Lissa to pursue Frederick?”

“I want her to be happy, more than anything.”

“You...might lose him, in that case,” she says with a slight blush.

“Not necessarily. I’m not as oblivious as you might believe.”

At his words, Maribelle’s face goes completely red, and she stammers, unable to cover her tracks.

~X~

“Do you love my sister?” he asks Frederick, the same question he asked Maribelle, and the knight takes a moment to answer. To him, the question could mean two things, but he knows that Chrom is referring to Lissa.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” he confesses. “I’ve failed you all once, and I know better than to allow myself to fail you again. After...after all that’s happened, I don’t deserve her, and I don’t deserve you, and I...I know I can’t protect you.”

“Are you going to be hard on yourself forever?” asks Chrom. “You know that neither of us consider you a failure, and if I didn’t think you deserved to be at my side, then I wouldn’t have stayed with you for so long. None of my feelings have faded, and if there were anyone in the world who deserved Lissa, it would be you. Well, you and Maribelle, but that only makes things simpler.”

“Milord, I…”

“You don’t have to make any sort of decision right now. I’m still figuring out my own feelings, and maybe things wouldn’t work with the four of us, but if they would…”

Frederick hesitates before he takes Chrom’s hand. He doesn’t say anything, and neither does Chrom, but it’s enough, for now.

~X~

Chrom asks Maribelle to be his wife not long after Frederick asks Lissa. Since the two of them have basically been engaged for years now, they don’t go to all the effort of reaffirming it, and when Chrom asks Lissa, he learns that she asked Maribelle long ago, when they were still children.

The marriage doesn’t feel like an obligation, and Lissa and Maribelle do not feel like replacements. Everything only feels right, and the four of them settle in together while Chrom adjusts to his new role, thankful to have the three of them, as well as the rest of his good friends, helping him along. Even if things may grow dark again in the future, none of them will have to face it alone.

Chrom doesn’t know how the tradition began, or why, but he thinks he understands now why the marriages of the royal house of Ylisse are considered blessed. Or, at the very least, he knows that his is.

**Author's Note:**

> Brady, Lucina, and Owain would have all basically been siblings, but Owain would have been a Morning while Brady and Lucina would be Evenings.  
> 


End file.
